Fix Lockout timer for vacated properties!!!
The lockout timer that is applied whenever any property is vacated is proving to be a huge headache for anyone looking to buy a private or Free Company estate. I don't know about anyone else, but I've been trying to get a plot for my FC for the last 2 weeks and I'm seriously burned out from camping vacated plots for hours on end only to have to quit from exhaustion or to have the plot taken by one of many other players camping the plot or someone who takes the plot through relocation. If the lockout is to remain implemented it needs to be changed and here are a few suggestions:
1. Make the timer visible so players know when to expect the plot to be unlocked, or at the very least limit the lockout time to no more than 4 hours. Making players camp a plot for an unknowable length of time for a chance to secure it for themselves or their Free Company can lead to player exhaustion as described above even to the point of potentially endangering their health. Sure, SE can just say that it's the player's own responsibility to participate in moderation and basically take care of themselves, but anyone with even the most basic understanding of human behavior can assume that there are going to be those who end up taking things too far even to the detriment of their own well-being.
2. Limit the lockout to properties that are vacated by the players themselves. If the lockout is intended to prevent resale of plots between players, then it doesn't make sense to include properties that are vacated by auto-demolition, relocation, or deletion of the owning character. The current all-encompassing implementation acts to needlessly inconvenience players desiring to purchase a property.
Fact is, these ideas should have been a no-brainer from the start.
Housing Impacts Game Play!
While cross-breeding plants is not a required part of the game, it's still an optional element of game play (just like crafting, gathering, non-storyline dungeons, etc.). However, unlike these others, the housing situation makes the plant breeding part of the game impossible for some. FC housing is not an option because if the FC has 5 or 6 or more people who want to cross-breed, there's just no room. Here are some options:
Option 1: Allow 1 garden 8-plant garden plot in FC chambers or apartments to open up cross-breeding.
Option 2: Increase housing so there's enough for most players.
Option 3: Remove cross-breeding plants as a part of game play since most of us can't do it anyway. Just make the seeds a harvested item.
Personally, I'd love to see option 1....
Add Garden Plots to Apartments
Most of us can't cross-breed plants because we can't get into a house and there are too many in the FC who are already using the FCs plots. A simple solution is to please allow an 8-slot garden plot in an FC chamber or apartment. This will open up cross breeding to more people.